(This might not be the most fitting place for this post but I wasn't sure where in the Tachibana Academy would be fitting. Sorry I forgot this yesterday D: )

Jordan looked over the conversation again on his phone. "around midday"That wasn't very specific, so Jordan decided to go to the school gates around noon, that being the technical middle point of the day. Jimmy had said they could get something to eat, so getting here at lunch time sounded reasonable.Jordan looked around a bit upon reaching the school gates to see if Jimmy was here already. Jordan didn't see him around, so he sat down against the wall near the gate and waited.He didn't have to wait long, and upon seeing Jimmy he wrote a message on his notepad in large letters to be seen from a short distance, and held the notepad above his head:"Hello, JimmyThis is Jordan"

Last edited by Sora on Wed Apr 06, 2016 1:47 pm; edited 1 time in total

Jimmy arrived at the school gates just a few minutes after 12, as carefree as ever. He was in high spirits and was looking forward to hanging out with Jordan. Toronto's Chinatown was a pretty nice spot, and his various excursions into the city alone since his trip with Ada had solidified it as one of his favourite places, with Toronto as a whole looking to surpass Atlanta in his estimations. He looked around for a bit, spotting another boy waiting at the gates. Completely unsure if this boy was his acquaintance or just some stranger, Jimmy decided to wait. If it was indeed Jordan, he'd know what to do. As Jimmy saw the boy write a message to him in large lettering on the notepad, Jimmy had his suspicion confirmed, waved to Jordan and approached him. Jimmy realised as he got to know Jordan better, it might be a good idea to start learning sign language, or at the very least investing in a notepad of his own that he could bring with him. For now, the two would have to exchange communications via Jordan's notepad alone. He almost wanted to smack his own forehead at not thinking of this sooner, he could have easily picked one up on a previous visit to the city had he remembered.

Instead he opted to politely gesture for Jordan to hand Jimmy the notepad and wait to write some sort of greeting.

Jimmy took the notepad from Jordan and wrote his message as quickly as he could"Hi Jordan, good to see you again. I really should have brought one of these of my own. Say the word when you're ready and I'll lead on."

Jordan didn't seem to rush to write as much as Jimmy did, but he returned the notepad:"That's fine. Maybe we can get you one if we pass by somewhere that has one. And I am ready now."Jordan felt glad that Jimmy was going to take the lead - he hadn't really thought through what to do with the day, and he hadn't yet looked around Toronto as much as maybe he should have. Jordan's wanderings were only occasional, and usually followed familiar paths.

It was a long walk to Toronto's Chinatown from Tachibana Academy's campus, and Jimmy knew that passing the whole time with absolutely no communication with Jordan was a terrible idea. Without knowing sign language, though, he didn't really have much choice. The only possible saving grace would be to grab a notepad of his own from a stationery shop so the two could pass notes between each other as they walked. Having already expressed that as a possibility, Jimmy kept his eyes peeled for some such store as he passed the field he'd taken Ellie to for the fair on their first date, the stalls and trailers that populated it that night now long since packed up. A little further down was the street he'd first met Mari on. So many good memories had already come from Jimmy's relatively brief time in Canada so far, and something told him there were plenty more to come. The isolation he'd felt in his second month after falling out of touch with all his new acquaintances little more than a passing phase in retrospect. He had friends. He had Ada, he had Mari, he had Shane, he had Hawke, and of course, he had Ellie. And he was eager to add Jordan to the list too.

While ruminating on this, Jimmy spotted just the place he'd been looking for. As he stopped outside, Jimmy made sure Jordan was paying attention before he pointed to Jordan's notebook and then into the store. Jimmy didn't want to keep Jordan waiting, and semi-rushed his way through the store, emerging with a cheap pen and a small, portable notebook of his own. He wrote on the first page.

"Well, I think this'll make things a little easier. We can sort-of communicate as we go now. If Until I learn sign language, this is the best we can do."

Jordan looked around absently as they walked, eventually noticing Jimmy doing the same. It seemed sort of like he was giving certain seemingly unremarkable locations a decent amount of attention, but Jordan didn't think anything of it.

Jordan, a few seconds after Jimmy's gesture, understood it and nodded.

Jordan smiled a little upon seeing Jimmy's new possession. After reading the message Jimmy showed, Jordan's attention lingered for a bit on the last sentence, and then on the "If" that started it. Jordan then wrote and presented his own message. "This will make things easier, thanks. You plan to learn sign language?"Did he make that decision just now?

"Well, if we're going to be hanging out like this more in the future, which I hope we do, I imagine we'd get to the point where I'd kind of need to. I'm definitely willing to do it, might as well get it done sooner rather than later and stay ahead of the curve. Plus, I can't think of a better environment to learn it in than Tachibana."

"It would make things easier, but it would also take a long time, like learning any other language."Jordan stopped writing and thought for a bit."I guess being in Tachibana means would actually get to learn through practice, though, which would make it easier.Still a long time, though"Jordan thought while presenting his message that he would only have half of this conversation recorded. Having only half of the conversation available would probably be more frustrating than not having it at all. He might tear these pages out later.Or maybe doing so was pointless. And the beginning of the conversation had both participants, so it'd be weird to cut it off.He guessed he wouldn't tear it out, then.

Jordan looked at the message longer than normal, not because he was struggling to read it, but because it didn't really prompt a response. After a short of time of trying to figure what a good response might be, Jordan elected that it would be fine not to give one; they could walk until something came up, right? Jordan turned away from the message without responding as the two resumed walking.Jordan, after just a short time, found a question that took his interest enough to reinvigorate the conversation:"Who would you use sign language with How would sign language be helpful besides talking to me?"

"I don't know, you tell me..." Jimmy wrote, showing this message briefly to Jordan with a wink, to make sure he'd communicated it was a joke and then wrote down a real answer. Or as close to one as Jimmy had.

"In all seriousness, I've been told it's an employable skill before. And around a place like Tachibana, I'm sure you're not the only one who relies on sign language. If I can put it to use to help people around here sometimes, that'd be awesome. Don't get me wrong, it's more than enough just to use it to talk to you, but I don't think I'd be wrong in assuming I could use it outside of that, would I?"

(woah your post was on tuesdaydidn't realize I'd been putting this off that longsorry)

"I don't think so, no" Jordan responded.

"it's more than enough to just use it to talk to you"Jordan felt a little confused as to how close of friends he and Jimmy were; it seemed like Jimmy thought of them as closer than Jordan had up to now. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"You said on The Missing Page that we're going to the Chinatown, right? What will we do there?"

Jimmy nodded as he read Jordan's message."It's just a cool place to hang out, I think. They have a park in the area. It's just fun to look around. And the food's to die for. If you don't click with it we'll figure something else out. I tend to go there on my own, usually."

It didn't take much longer for Jordan and Jimmy to arrive at the bustling Toronto Chinatown. It was glaringly obvious as soon as they'd arrived. Just above their heads were all sorts of store signs with brightly colored backgrounds and Chinese writing, some with translations into broken or misspelled English below, all fighting for supremacy to stand out and draw in customers. More obvious still were the two wooden poles with intricately carved dragons mounted on them. Jimmy couldn't help but smile a little, and looked to Jordan for his reaction. Writing on his own notepad to prompt him."Pretty cool, right?"

After a short look around, Jordan responded:"It's a lot different. I guess that makes it cool, yeah."Jordan continued to observe his surroundings afterward, fascinated somewhat by the rather sudden change in atmosphere.

(woah forgot about thisi will blame it on the end of the school year distracting me)

After reading Jimmy's message, Jordan was reminded that he hadn't yet eaten lunch today. "Eating seems good"Jordan was at a bit of a loss for what else to do, so maybe they'd see something interesting on the way to wherever they'd eat as well.

He begins leading Jordan through the bristling crowds and small storefronts fit to burst, and towards a tiny, unassuming takeaway restaurant with a small bench by the window and a mostly red and white colour scheme. The queue inside spills out onto the streets and Jimmy takes care to indicate this to his new friend as they join the back of it. He writes another message as they wait.

"I know this probably doesn't look like much, but trust me, it's the best. Hope you like Asian food, because they've got every type of it under the sun."

Jordan felt a little uncomfortable having this many people close by, but he could tolerate it. After reading Jimmy's message, he thought of responding with "I do" to confirm that he did indeed like Asian food, but he couldn't think of anything to say beyond that. Two words didn't seem like enough to justify writing out, so he responded with a simple nod.He tried thinking of what kinds of foods would be available; Jimmy said that they'd have basically anything. He took a bit to remember what kinds of Asian foods he had had before, and in not too long decided that stir fry seemed good. Stir fry with chicken and rice. That sounded good.

The line moved slowly, but surely, ever closer to the entrance, as Jimmy and Jordan stood next to each other in an awkward... well, silence would be the wrong word, but they didn't communicate. The one time Jimmy attempted to strike up conversation with Jordan, some idiot behind them knocked his elbow and caused him to leave a massive scrawl along the page, making Jimmy frown momentarily. Once they got in, however, the owner waved and bellowed loudly, a friendly grin crossing his face. The man struck a large, but jolly figure."Jimmy! Good to see you, boy!"Jimmy reciprocated the smile and quickly wrote to Jordan before turning his attention back to the owner."I come here way too often. Let me deal with him, we'll be in and out before you know it. What do you want to order?"

Jordan neither noticed nor experienced the discomfort that Jimmy felt, and when he asked what Jordan wanted, the response was fairly quick:"Stir fry with chicken and rice"There was little to write and he had already thought this through.